On the Thermal Buckling of Simply Supported Rectangular Plates Made of a Sigmoid Functionally Graded Al/Al2O3 Based Material

We study the thermal buckling of a simply supported sigmoid functionally graded (SFGM) rectangular plate using first-order shear deformation theory. The S-FGM system consists of ceramic (Al2O3) and metal (Al) phases varying across the plate thickness according to a law described by two power-law functions. The effective properties of the composite are determined by the rule of mixtures, whose implementation is simpler than that of methods of micromechanics. The thermal heating is characterized by a uniform, linear, or sinusoidal temperature distribution across the plate thickness. The effects of the plate aspect ratio, the relative thickness, the gradient index, and the transverse shear on the buckling temperature difference are studied.